Friday, August 31, 2012

How I wish men in the city wore turbans too. How I wish turbans were back in fashion.

They add such magnificence and presence to the male personality - something much needed in these times of universal bland pinstripe Arrow shirts and Titan eyewear (oh and the dreadful id tag around the neck).

Long ago when I lived in a little gated apartment community on Sarjapur road, I would go cycling along Marathahalli ring road. (Marathahalli was far from the disaster that it is today. There were green fields and eucalyptus trees on either side of the road). One day while cycling a farmer passed me on his tractor. He wore a magnificent white turban. I thought he looked like a Maharaja on a chariot. 'Oy!' he called to attract my attention. I gave him a thumbs up sign as I cycled past. He gave me a thumbs up too as we went our separate ways. I'd like to think that kind of confidence comes from wearing a turban. It gives a man the same kind of presence that wearing a sari nicely gives a woman.

Here is a post by Archana Srinivas at her blog Rang: The Colours of Life, on Pagris (turbans) -

Here is a great link about passionate drawing. You know those spontaneous drawings which look as if the artist has just whipped it up in a flash. Well it never is quite like that. Read this excellent article to find out more >>>

Friday, August 24, 2012

One Sunday Anil, one of the regulars at Pencil Jam, gushed and gushed about his latest discovery - he used wedding feast paper to draw on. For the phirangs (foreigners) reading this blog, most South Indian Hindu wedding feasts have long tables where a roll of white paper is rolled out on it, then banana leaves are placed on it to serve a fabulous lip smacking vegetarian meal as you can see in this picture here >. The paper with the remains is simply rolled up and binned after that. So easy. No washing up.

I had to grudgingly admit that it was a super idea to use this paper for drawing. No more scrounging around for rough paper or tearing up bulky cartridge paper to draw on. Just roll out and draw!

I must give thanks to the ever resourceful Akhila who procured the Wedding Feast paper for me.

Here are some of the results :-)

Monster plant!

Somebody got miffed that she was removed from her usual perch on the table and placed on a chair.So I drew a giant sardine for her...

Woah!

Throughout these midnight endeavours of mine, I was fuelled by Salted Chocolate chip cookies from David Lebovitz's famous recipe. It is the best ever and so easy. I love the bursts of salt sparkling on my tongue amidst the sweetness of chocolate and sugar. Naturally I have to show pictures ;-P